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We went to see our local fireworks last night and got the thrill of sitting by the most unruley 8 yr old kids I've seen in my life. Besieds talking during the entire show, we were treated to sand throwing contests (which the youngens missed each other and hit most of the rest of us nearby viewers), wrestling matches, and some rednecks that couldn't figure out how to use their bottlerockets properly with most shooting directly into the people sitting nearby. The funny part was the parents were right there but decided their kids were behaving fine despite being their antics, and seeing their kids being talked to by at least 4 different groups of nearby adults.

Someone told me that across the river in your state, that there are no fireworks laws at all. Is that true?

There are plenty of fireworks laws in Washington. In Bellingham, you can only set them off between 9am and midnight on July 4. I think outside the city, where I used to live with my parents, the time was longer. Of course, someone not far from me was setting some off after midnight last night. If you are on the Indian Reservation, you can set off the stuff that they sell there, like the bottle rockets and other explosive stuff.

Bellingham has a nice fireworks display on the bay at 10:30 on the 4th. I walked/jogged downtown the last two years to watch it, but passed this year. I considered taking my ladder out of the garage to see if I could see them if I climbed up it. I'm not sure if this hill blocks the line of sight or not.

I think you can set off fireworks on New Year's Eve as well. There is usually a fireworks display at Civic Field (the main track and football field in town) then, which I can see fine from my house. That is an even shorter walk if I want to get closer to them.

I don't know about any regulations in the rest of the state. I don't know how much they enforce the restrictions either. Maybe if someone called and reported those after midnight fireworks, then something would be done.

Here in Illinois, we are only allowed stuff that makes smoke, very boring. The fireworks displays put on by the cities are pretty nice, but as far as using your own it's a big no no. You can drive to Wisconsin or Indiana to purchase illegal fireworks, well illegal here in Illinois. I've even heard radio advertisments prompting people from Illinois to come across the border to buy all sorts of fun explosive fireworks. I'm not sure what would happen if you were caught smuggling the stuff back into Illinois, but I'm sure there would be a large ticket, plus confescation of said fireworks.

Hah! I love that people down here are telling me that it's anarchy up there. I was (and am) still amazed by the fireworks for sale here though. Huge tents on every corner selling them... and it's such a combustible place with all the trees. I suppose it's wet enough though.

There was an article in my local paper the other day and it said anything that blows up or comes off the ground is illegal. Which pretty much eliminates anything and everything other then snakes.

We had some great smoke bombs this year actually, the red, blue, and green smoke all looked tremendous (the yellow looked decent, the 2 purples looked like regular smoke). Those snakes leave a pretty permanent scorch mark in the ground, it's cool. Most of the safe & sane fireworks we had didn't blow up or fire off the ground, they shot sparks and crackles and made noise.

One of the best new s&s ones this year did blow up though, the Crazy Eyeball, a mini-spinner that spun a few times (or didn't spin at all sometimes) then its plastic eyeball center glowed momentarily before it blew up in a shower of crackle sparks - very small, but surprisingly entertaining.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.